Subscribe Feed (RSS)A nice win Wednesday over an almost tiny, but well-coached Miami team. Man, it’s just about impossible to play basketball without a center.
Fernandez was sensational in the fourth, obviously. When this team gets more accustomed to playing together, I think it is going to be tough to handle. Tonight the Blazers probably went to the Brandon Roy spread offense a little too early and the result was stagnation.
When Rudy is sticking it from the outside and there is that size advantage inside, I’d just keep running the regular offense.
Speaking of pounding away inside, someone needs to remind Joel Przybilla about the roll part of the pick and roll. There are some dunks there for him. Of course, you can’t blame him — it’s not as if they look for him on that play much. But it’s there.
Great to see Oden on the floor. Be patient, I’m more convinced than ever that he’s someday going to be a difference maker. It’s all about mobility for him and that’s eventually going to return. He just needs to get more comfortable on the floor and reclaim a little reckless abandon.
Tags: Miami Heat, Portland Trail Blazers, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez
Good call on the Roy stagnation. I am encouraged, though – Rudy gives the Blazers an alternative, and hopefully Roy will look at the situation as a career-lengthening phenomenon.
Glad to have you back Dwight, and I hope you enjoyed your time away from home. – Elgin.
Greg Oden is to Reckless Abandon as Bloggers are to Ravenous Beauty.
Rudy brightens my day! Thanks for blogging and remember to enjoy yourself in Maui!
I’m glad to read what you’re written about Greg Oden. Since you’ve always tended to be a realist when others are drinking the Kool-aid, your positive outlook on Oden has a little more weight with me. I feel the same way and, to me, too many of the talking heads (read: Colin Cowherd) are too quick to say Greg will never be the player the Blazers thought he would be when they drafted him. I’m not saying he necessarily will be, but it’s WAY too early to say he definitely won’t.
Thanks for the comment on Oden. I was encouraged by his first half at Miami. He takes up so much room and forces the defense to react to him. If he looks like that halfway through the season I might start to get nervous. He is reminding me of Amare Stoudemire’s return from microfracture surgery a couple years ago. It took him a couple of months of playing to get back his quickness and agility. Some were saying he wouldn’t be the same again.